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:: Online Education Degrees

A teacher (also called a school teacher or, in some contexts, an educator) is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

Teacher

A teacher in a classroom at a secondary school in Pendembu, Sierra Leone.
Occupation
Names	Teacher, schoolteacher
Occupation type	Profession
Activity sectors	Education
Description
Competencies	Pedagogy, subject knowledge; competence in teaching the subject, in curriculum, in learner assessment; psychology; planning; leadership.
Education required	(varies by country) Teaching certification
Fields of employment	Schools
Related jobs	Professor, academic, lecturer, tutor

A teacher of a Latin school and two students, 1487

Informally the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. when showing a colleague how to perform a specific task). In some countries, teaching young people of school age may be carried out in an informal setting, such as within the family (homeschooling), rather than in a formal setting such as a school or college. Some other professions may involve a significant amount of teaching (e.g. youth worker, pastor).

In most countries, formal teaching of students is usually carried out by paid professional teachers. This article focuses on those who are employed, as their main role, to teach others in a formal education context, such as at a school or other place of initial formal education or training.

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators and also learners may also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Formal education is commonly divided formally into such stages as preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then college, university, or apprenticeship.

In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education comprises the formal education that occurs during adolescence. It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, "postsecondary", or "higher" education (e.g. university, vocational school) for adults. Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling.

Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1–13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education, or to train directly in a profession.

Secondary education in the United States did not emerge until 1910, with the rise of large corporations and advancing technology in factories, which required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created, with a curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved beneficial for both employers and employees, since the improved human capital lowered costs for the employer, while skilled employees received higher wages.

Secondary education has a longer history in Europe, where grammar schools or academies date from as early as the 16th century, in the form of public schools, fee-paying schools, or charitable educational foundations, which themselves date even further back.

Community colleges offer another option at this transitional stage of education. They provide nonresidential junior college courses to people living in a particular area.

Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or postsecondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school such as a high school or secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities mainly provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Individuals who complete tertiary education generally receive certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education typically involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries, a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.

University education includes teaching, research, and social services activities, and it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Some universities are composed of several colleges.

One type of university education is a liberal arts education, which can be defined as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting broad general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum."

An online degree is an academic degree (usually a college degree, but sometimes the term includes high school diplomas and non-degree certificate programs) that can be earned primarily or entirely through the use of an Internet-connected computer, rather than attending college in a traditional campus setting. Improvements in technology, the increasing use of the Internet worldwide, and the need for people to have flexible school schedules while they are working have led to a proliferation of online colleges that award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

The goal of educational accreditation, according to the United States Department of Education, is to ensure that programs provided by institutions of higher education meet acceptable levels of quality.[1] ENQA, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, describes the role of external quality assurance in education as one that "combines both accountability for the reassurance of the public and an objective and developmental role for enhancing quality in institutions".[2] In the area of online education, it is important to avoid unaccredited diploma mills that offer fake degrees, as these are unfortunately common. Students seeking valid online degrees should obtain proof of accreditation from an appropriate national or regional accrediting body.

In the United States, online colleges that are fully accredited have earned a widely recognized form of university accreditation from one of six regional accreditation boards.[3] Each of six geographic regions of the United States has one of these boards, a non-governmental agency that oversees and accredits degree-granting institutions headquartered in their areas. The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) also recognize the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) as the accrediting organization for distance learning institutions and education programs that offer online degrees.

Outside of the United States, other national and regional standards of accreditation hold, and may be highly supportive of, distance education. For example, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, or Open University of Catalonia, has been accredited by AQU, the Agency for Quality Assurance in the Catalan University System (a full member of ENQA), since its inception in 1995, and has been called a "significant success story" as "the world's first continuous, and sustainable, virtual university".[4] Similarly, in Ireland, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) has accredited a number of online colleges and degrees, e.g. Setanta College.[5]

In many cases, an online degree earned through an accredited public or private university may be effectively indistinguishable from a degree earned in a campus-based program, sometimes referred to as "brick-and-mortar" programs. The instruction is often exactly the same, with the online degree containing no special designation. As such the same financial aid packages are often available to online students, which has helped make them more accessible to traditional applicants. An example of an indistinguishable degree program is that offered by Columbia University. Student who earn a degree through the Columbia Video Network (CVN) earn exactly the same type of degree as the campus-based program.[13] The professors, courses, homework, tests, and eventual transcripts and diploma are identical to that of on-campus students.[14] Another example is NYU Tandon Online which offers master's degrees completely online through New York University Tandon School of Engineering.[15]

In recent years many top universities have been actively expanding their extension and online learning programs in an effort to legitimize the online education arena.[16][17] While admissions to online programs at prestigious universities hasn't seen a dramatic spike, there has been a large expansion in course offerings in recent years. Almost all Ivy League and top 20 universities now offer at least one online graduate degree program or certification.[18]

The Sloan Consortium, based on data collected from over 2,200 U.S. colleges and universities, reports that nearly 3.2 million students took at least one online course during 2005 (a significant increase over the 2.3 million reported in 2004). According to the same report, about two-thirds of the largest institutions have fully online programs.[11] In 2010, more than 6 million students were taking at least one course online.[20] As of 2013, the number of students enrolled in online courses had risen to over 6.7 million.[21]

• "U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs". ed.gov. United States Department of Education. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• "ENQA Mission Statement". enqa.eu. European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• "College Accreditation in the United States-- Pg 7". ed.gov. United States Department of Education. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• Rajasingham, Lalita. "New Challenges Facing Universities in the Internet-Driven Global Environment". EURODL. European Distance and E-learning Network. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• "Setantal Report Final with Amendments" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-12.

• Adams, Jonathan; Defleur, Margaret. "The acceptability of online degrees earned as a credential for obtaining employment". Communication Education. Routledge. doi:10.1080/03634520500343376.

• Wellen, Alex (2006-07-30). "Degrees of Acceptance". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• "Fraud and Online Learning". 5 October 2011 – via NYTimes.com.

• Robinson, JoAnn (2004-03-23). "Using Your Distance Education to Earn an Academic Degree" (PDF). detc.org. Distance Education and Training Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• Carnevale, Dan (2007-01-05). "Employers Often Distrust Online Degrees". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• Allen, I. Elaine; Seaman, Jeff (2006-11-15). Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006 (PDF). Sloan Consortium. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• Lohr, Steve. “Second Thoughts On Web Classes.” New York Times 13 Sept. 2010: 3 Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

• Schweitzer, Karen. "Will Anyone Hire a Grad with an Online Business Degree?". about.com. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• Online Degrees Portal Is online degree the same as on-campus degree?

• NYU-ePoly FAQs What is the difference between an on-campus course and online course content?

• charley (8 April 2015). "About Us".

• "Online courses + time on campus = a new path to an MIT master's degree".

• "Top Universities You Didn't Know Had Online Masters Degree Programs - academical". 9 July 2016.

• Tabs, E.D. (2003-07-15). "Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2000-2001" (PDF). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

• "Growing number of college students choose online courses". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2012-02-16. Retrieved 23 December 2012.

• "The Rise of Online MBA Education". University of Ohio. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

• Croix, Wendy. "Down with the 50 Percent Rule: Up with Online Education Financial Aid". WorldWideLearn. Retrieved 2011-07-05.

        Industry Description

Code	Concentration	More Info
BSGB	Doctor of Education
School: Walden University Program: Perfect your skills as a teacher and use them where they matter most - to improve student learning at the classroom, school, and district level. The Ed.D. program is designed for K-12 teachers who want to continue teaching while assuming leadership roles in their school and community. This program is based on standards developed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium and the National Staff Development Council. Specializations include: Teacher Leadership :: Concentration: Teacher Training Schools :: Online        ::  Location: Online ::  more info

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Code	Concentration	More Info
BSGB	Master of Science in Education
School: Walden University Program: Now K-12 teachers have a better way to earn their master's degree. Educators with at least 2 years of teaching experience can earn their degree in less than 2 years with no campus visits. Study at your convenience, gain practical skills, and maximize your earning potential. Specializations include: Educational Leadership Elementary Reading & Literacy Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Integrating Technology in the Classroom Middle Level Education :: Concentration: Teacher Training Schools :: Online        ::  Location: Online ::  more info

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Code	Concentration	More Info
BSGB	Ph.D. in Education
School: Walden University Program: The Ph.D. in Education program produces leaders who can address the nation’s most pressing educational challenges. In fact, it requires educators to come to the program with defined learning goals, and challenges them to design their own program of study. Specializations include: General Program Adult Education Leadership Community College Leadership Early Childhood Education Educational Technology Higher Education K-12 Educational Leadership Knowledge Management :: Concentration: Teacher Training Schools :: Online        ::  Location: Online ::  more info

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Code	Concentration	More Info
	Master - Education
School: Regis University Program: This program is designed for teaching professionals who are seeking professional growth and development opportunities. You can choose either an emphasis in Professional Educator or an emphasis in Professional Leadership, which includes three areas of specialization: Space Studies Leadership, Teacher Leadership, or Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. :: Concentration: Teacher Training Schools :: Online        ::  Location: Online ::  more info

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Industry Description

Government, businesses and social commentators alike recognize the importance of education; they know the value of a trained and educated workforce and general population. An education degree will provide you with the theory and practical skills you need to make the most of the many opportunities available in the diverse and varied field of education.

Taking your education degree online is the perfect way to develop your career opportunities without disrupting your life. An on-line degree program allows study wherever and whenever a busy schedule allows. Even if you are living abroad, you can gain a degree on-line from an American university. Technology has progressed such that quality and content are not sacrificed to allow for the flexibility and accessibility of online learning. The convenience and accessibility of an on-line degree makes it easier than ever to learn while you earn and enhance your career prospects.

Education takes place in almost all aspects of our lives. Degree programs in education reflect the diversity of career paths available in the education industry – the second largest in the US. Whether you want to work in curriculum design, research, educational administration, traditional teaching, school counseling, or special education, a degree is a definite advantage and, in some cases, a necessity.

The rewards make the work involved in earning your degree worthwhile. Not only is education a fulfilling and interesting career choice, it is also a career with a healthy future. Job opportunities in all aspects of education are set to increase significantly over the next 10 years.

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